Nature Festivals

(December 3, 2025)  The four Celtic nature quarter festivals (solstices and equinoxes) got their names from from early and incorrect translations of some ancient parchment texts during the Welsh nationalist revival of the late 1800's. The need to invent some nationalist culture separate from Anglo-Saxon culture meant historical truth was a secondary consideration. Only know with the translation of Welsh runic texts is the real ancient Welsh culture starting to be revealed.

The remaining 4 nature festival names were invented by Aidan Kelly in 1974. He recalls his thought process in these blog entries:

• Back in 1974, I was putting together a “Pagan-Craft” calendar—the first of its kind, as far as I know—listing the holidays, astrological aspects, and other stuff of interest to Pagans. We have Gaelic names for the four Celtic holidays. It offended my aesthetic sensibilities that there seemed to be no Pagan names for the summer solstice or the fall equinox equivalent to Yule or Beltane—so I decided to supply them.
• The spring equinox was almost a nonissue. The Venerable Bede says that it was sacred to a Saxon Goddess, Ostara or Eostre, from whom we get the name “Easter,” which, almost everywhere else, is called something like “Pasch,” derived, of course, from Pesach.
• Summer was also rather easy. The Saxon calendar described by Bede was lunisolar. It usually had 12 months, but in the third, fifth, and last month of an 8-year cycle, a 13th month was added to keep it (more or less) in sync with the solar years. The last and first months in the calendar were named Foreyule and Afteryule, respectively, and obviously framed the holiday of Yule. The sixth and seventh months were named Forelitha and Afterlitha; furthermore, when the thirteenth month was added, it went in between them, and the year was then called a Threelitha. Obviously, by analogy with Yule, the summer solstice must have been called Litha. (I later discovered that Tolkien had figured this out also.)

• The Fall equinox Mabon name comes from the Welsh Mabinogion version of the common Pagan myth in which the underworld god causes life on earth to sleep until his love is returned. In most Pagan myths his love is kidnapped (or rescued)  in the fall.

• In the Mabinogion collection, the story of Mabon ap Modron (which translates as “Son of the Mother,” just as Kore simply meant “girl”), whom Gwydion rescues from the underworld, much as Theseus rescued Helen. It would have been aesthetically better to have found a Saxon name, but  . . . so I picked “Mabon” as the name for the holiday in my calendar. It was not an arbitrary choice. I sent a copy of the calendar to Oberon (then still Tim), who liked these new names and began using them in Green Egg, whence they passed into the national Pagan vocabulary.

References

(December 6, 2025) Yet the main quarter festivals (solstices and equinoxes) were festivals since ancient time, just that the names were different in different regions. This is a Viking example from Sweden. The festivals were listed in ogham on the side of the runestone. 

Translation Using Ballymote Letter Assignments With Runic Akkadian Letters Gives List of Viking Festivals (Ogham Text 8)

The top part is a listing of the nature quarter festivals in Druid Akkadian (read from top to bottom). The first half of the year is a time of settling accounts while the second half is a time of feasting.

1. ᚃ ᚇ = ṢaDu = Feasting
2. ᚄ ᚈ = ŠeTu = Time
3. ᚁ ᚈ = ReTu = Settlements. (Spring Equinox)
4. ᚃ ᚆ = ṢaḪu = Rendering  
5. ᚁ ᚈ = ReTu = Settlements. (Summer Solstice)
6. ᚅ ᚈ = NaTu = Nature's
7. ᚃ ᚆ = ṢaḪu = Rendering
8. ᚃ ᚇ = ṢaDu = Feast. (Fall Equinox)
9. ᚂ ᚇ = PaDu = Breeding-animal
10. ᚃ ᚇ = ṢaDu = Feast. (Winter Solstice)

This means the 4 Nature Festivals can be summarized as:

1. Animal Settlements: March 21, Spring Equinox
2. Plant Settlements: June 22, Summer Solstice
3. Plant Harvest Festival: September 21, Autumn Equinox
4. Animal Harvest Festival: December 22, Winter Solstice

"Nature's rendering" is the rendering-up of earth's plant bounty. In contrast "Breeding" reference the successful production of young animals for food.

(July 3, 2022, updated December 14, 2024) Yule eve is the longest night of the year and thus it is a time for reflection on the past. Traditionally this connection to the past is represented by the Yule log which is piece of wood taken from last year’s fire and placed into this year's fire.

Yule was also a time of feasting, mostly on pig because the forest floor nuts which they ate were almost be gone now. Consequently, any pigs not destined for breeding had to be killed before they starved.  After a Yule ceremony at Stonehenge such feasting commenced the next day at nearby Woodhenge where archaeologists found lots of yearling pig bones.

This festival is called Yalda in ancient Persian and Syriac suggesting it originated as an Indo-European word where it means "birth."

Yule has nothing to do with the final Roman harvest festival of Saturnalia which comes right after the olive harvest is done in early December. The planet Saturn, being the slowest planet, represented harvest time and the end of life.  The following quote from a Roman text shows Saturnalia was not associated with the winter solstice:

• When on the day of the solstice, which followed the festivals of the Saturnalia in which those banquets were celebrated, I was at home, empty of legal care and in a happier mood, when Eusebius came with a few of his followers ... The Saturnalia - page 2

The Romans were the ones who separated the winter soltice from the feasting celebrations surrounding the end of the old year (Saturnalia). Their solstice day was January 1 and called Aesculapio Vediovi (Aesculapius' is Seen) which celebrates the healing of the celestial light from the sun.  Their final olive harvest celebration may simply have coopted the older winter solstice feasting.

The Old Norse word for Yule was jól, closely resembling the modern Scandinavian terms: Swedish, Danish, and Norwegian jul, as well as the Icelandic and Faroese jól. The word jól appears frequently in Norse texts and carries rich associations with midwinter celebrations and the gods themselves.

At this time the Christian church was using the Roman Julian calendar (no leap years) which is a few weeks different from the Gregorian calendar we use today (has leap years). Hence Bede reports that Christmas was celebrated on January 8. Yule (Latin Giuli where the /gi/ sounds like /y/) was the month of December.

Chapter 40 Of Bede, the Months of the English

1. But the ancient people of the English (for it does not seem appropriate to me to say the annals of other nations, and to withhold mine) reckoned their months according to the course of the moon; whence they take their name from the moon, after the manner of the Hebrews and Greeks. If, indeed, among them the moon is a moon, the month is called monath.
2. And the first of their months, indeed the Latins call January, is called Giuli. Then February Sol-monath, March Rhed-monath, Aprilis Eostur-monath, Maius Thrimylchi, Junius Lida, Julius likewise Lida, Augustus Vueod-monath, September Haleg-monath, Oktober Vuinter-fylleth, November Blod-monath, December Juli, in the same His name is January. And they began the year from the eighth day of the calendar of January, when we now celebrate the birthday of the Lord. And the night itself, which is now sacred to us, was then called by the gentiles by the term Modranicht, that is, the mother night, for the reason that we suspect it. of the ceremonies which the watchmen performed in it.
3. Also, in the main, they divided the whole year into two seasons, namely, winter and summer, assigning those six months in which the nights and days are longer to summer, and the remaining six to winter. Hence the month in which the winter season began was called Vuinter-fylleth, a compound name from winter and the full moon, because it was the full moon of the same month that marked the beginning of the winter.
4. Nor is it out of the question if we take care to interpret the names of the rest of their months as well. The Julian months, from the revolution of the sun to the length of the day, because one of them precedes and another follows, receive names. Sol-month may be called the month of the cakes, which they offered to their gods in it; Rhed-monath is named after their god Rheda, to whom they sacrificed there; Eostur-month, which is now interpreted as the month of Easter, once had a name from their goddess, who was called Eostre, and in whom they celebrated festivals, from whose name they now call the Easter season. calling the joys of the new solemnity by the usual term of the ancient observance.
5. It was called the tri-milchi, because the cattle were milked in it three times a day. For such was once the wealth of Britain, or of Germany, that the nation of the English entered into Britain. Lida is said to be pleasant, or navigable, because in both months the calmness of the winds is pleasant, and the seas are used to sail. Vueod-month of the month of weeds, which are most abundant in that weather. Halegh-monath, the holy month. Vuinter-fylleth may be said to be compounded of the new name of winter-full moon. Blot-Monath, the month of the sacrifices, because in it the cattle that were to be killed were vowed to their gods. Thank you, good Jesus, who, turning us away from these vain things, gave you sacrifices of praise. 

References

(January 28, 2023) Imbolc/Imbolk is a festival of purification and focus on the essentials of one's life, qualities needed to persevere through the depths of winter.  This focusing is represented by candles and hearth fires which naturally draw one's attention. 

This festival entered the Christian calendar as something called "Christ's presentation to the temple" after that event was associated with the Spring budding festival celebrated around Jerusalem. (In the north the budding festival would become Ostara).

This happened during the late 300's CE when the Western pilgrim Etheria attended this celebration in Jerusalem which the local Christians had connected to Jesus by giving it a cover story that it was celebrating the legend that Jesus was presented to the temple shortly after he was born. It's date that year was on February 14.

At this time Jerusalem was no longer Jewish. After the final Jewish revolt against the Romans called the Bar Kokhba revolt (132-136) led by Simon bar Kokhba Jews were no longer allowed to enter Jerusalem. The only exception was those Jews who wished to enter the city for Tisha B'Av (a day of remembrance for all the disasters which had befallen the Jewish people held in late July or early August).

She wrote about it in her travel book, the Peregrinatio Etheriae. It soon spread to other Eastern Roman cities. In 542 Justinian I decreed that its date should be moved to February 2 (40 days after Christmas). By the middle of the 5th century the custom of observing the festival with lighted candles was adopted and the name Candlemas developed from this custom.

The Spring budding festival Etheria experienced in Jerusalem became the Jewish holiday called the “15th of Shevat” which is its date on the Jewish calendar. This date ranges from January 25 to February 15. This festival is also known as “Tu Bishvat.” It celebrates the first budding of the trees in the Levant. The earliest Jewish mention of this festival is the Mishna (200-300 CE). Tu Bishvat informally became the February 14th Christian St. Valentine's day during the medieval 1300's.

The word "Imbolc" is Gaelic from Ireland and it is pronounced "imbolg." (The introduction of the letter C into the alphabet was because K had developed a /g/ sound in some situations. The /c/ sound has remained rather fluid ever since). In Ireland this holiday became associated with Saint Brigid who would have died just before Justinian's proclamation. 

Brigid was born, according to tradition, in Fochart, near Dundalk, County Louth, Ireland.  She died around 525 in Kildare, Ireland. She was the abbess of Kildare and became one of the patron saints of Ireland alongside Saint Patrick. Irish traditions surrounding this holiday include making a straw doll and doing things around the home fire such as baking and singing poetry.

References

(January 28, 2023) Ostara is the name given to the Pagan budding festival of northern Europe. This is a time in the northern hemisphere when buds appear on trees and the grass starts to turn green and grow again. Eggs are the animal equivalent of tree buds. 

The word Ostara itself is the modern Pagan spelling of the Celtic goddess Eostre (Easter) who is mentioned by the Anglo-Saxon historian Bede (672-735 CE) as giving her name to the month which the English Christians were then trying to change to Paschal month. Here is the quote (original in Latin):

Eostre seems to the the Druid Akkadian phrase E'.Ṣ.TR. or more fulling E'u Ṣu TaRu meaning "Yahu's activity is changing." Yahu is the Druid god who manifests life forms on earth at the command of higher powers.

In contrast to the Druids, the Indo-Europeans seem to have started their new year during the spring equinox which is still seen in the Persian New Year festival called Nowruz.

(updated May 1, 2024) Beltane is a celebration of Spring. This is the time when flowers appear and the buzz of summer begins releasing the feelings of new energy.

Beltane's main symbol today is the maypole which originally was a public pole on which were placed flower garlands. In the Scandinavian countries in which summer comes late, Maypoles are associated with the Midsummer festival and not with Beltane.

Colorful ribbons replaced garlands in some areas. The earliest picture of a maypole with ribbons dates to a private garden party held in 1759 at Ranelagh Garden in London. This was a for-profit public garden which charged an entrance fee. See it at: https://www.londonpicturearchive.org.uk/view-item?i=6819&WINID=1649681830068

Maypoles were not a phallic symbol. Historian Ronald Hutton who has studied historical European Paganism extensively says this: 

References

(July 3, 2022) This is the first of three harvest holidays of the year. Because grains were the fastest growing this holiday typically focuses on the virtue of growth.

The word Lammas comes from the Old English word meaning “loaf mass.” This holiday is celebrated by baking a loaf out of the first grains of the season.​ Lammas is also celebrated as Lughnassadh after the Celtic god called Lugh. ​

(February 1, 2024) In the north this is the second of the three harvest holidays in which fruits and berries were harvested. In Italy is is the final harvest which adds summer vegetables to the fruits. The final harvest signals a month of plenty and leisure which is why this became the main market day in Italy. This month of plenty is represented by the cornucopia. Finally, this is also the Fall equinox in which night is balanced with day. 

Fruits represent a life balance because trees and bushes must balance their need for survival versus their need to reproduce by committing energy to fruits. This holiday is a good time to focus on various spiritual balance practices.

(July 3, 2022) Samhain is the last of the three harvest holidays. Samhain focuses on the virtue of connection in general and specifically on the connection between life and death. Life cannot exist without death to make room for new living things.

This is the time of year when plants begin to go dormant in preparation for the winter. This was also the time when farm animals (except for free ranging pigs) not saved for breeding or farm work were killed and their meat preserved. This is why spiritually attuned people say that the veil between the living and the dead is thinnest at this time of year.

 Samhain was also a time of giving thanks for the sacrifices of food animals as well as for the sacrifices made by one's own ancestors. Due to historical circumstances in the United States, Thanksgiving was shifted to the fourth Thursday of November in an attempt to ignore its religious origins. This artificial split left Halloween as the celebration part of the holiday.

The English word "Halloween" derives from the Akkadian phrase Hu'u-Liwa meaning "astrological-owl love." These owls were omens of change because they influence the flow rate of life-powers through the life network. This owl connection is seen in Middle English of the late 1300's in the word holowen  meaning "to make hollow" because owls live in hollowed out tree trunks. The date of Oct. 31 is described as alle halwe eue or all hallow's eve by c. 1300 as in it was an omened day of change. "Hallow" became associated with "good omens" or "holy omens." Consequently the Christian church tried to co-opt Halloween by associating it with the honoring holy persons or saints. Hallow-day for "All-Saints Day" is from 1590s.